ISSN:
1432-1912
Keywords:
Veratridine
;
Exocytotic release
;
Neuronal efflux
;
“Reserpine-like” effects
;
Rat vas deferens
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Summary 1) The veratridine-induced release of 3H-noradrenaline from noradrenergic neurones was examined in the isolated vas deferens of either untreated or reserpine plus pargyline-pretreated rats. The rat vas deferens, whose catechol O-methyltransferase was inhibited, was first incubated with 0.4 μmol/l 3H-(−)noradrenaline (30 min) and then washed repeatedly with amine-free solution. After 120 min (i.e., well after the efflux of tritium from the tissue had reached a steady level and was predominantly of neuronal origin), washout was continued in the presence of veratridine for further 10–15 min. 2) In vasa deferentia of untreated rats, variatridine (1–100 μmol/l) caused a concentration-dependent increase in the efflux of tritium. At high concentrations of the drug (30 or 100 μmol/l), this increase in efflux was peak-like during the first 3 min (“peak response”) and then fell to a plateau (“plateau response”). In the presence of veratridine, unchanged 3H-noradrenaline accounted for about 75% of the tritium efflux (the rest being represented by deaminated 3H-catechol metabolites). 3) The “peak response” to veratridine (100 μmol/l) was abolished by tetrodotoxin (TTX; 1 μmol/l) or the absence of external Ca2+. Cocaine (10 μmol/l) affected neither the “peak response” as such nor the contribution by 3H-noradrenaline to the efflux of tritium during that response. Hence, the “peak response” was due to exocytotic release of 3H-noradrenaline from the neurone. 4) The “plateau response” to veratridine (100 μmol/l) was unaffected by the absence of external Ca2+, largely resistant to TTX (1 μmol/l) and moderately reduced by cocaine. However, both TTX and cocaine drastically changed the composition of the radioactivity during the “plateau response”: they greatly reduced or even abolished the efflux of unchanged 3H-noradrenaline and markedly increased the efflux of deaminated 3H-metabolites. Hence, the “plateau response” represented a “reserpine-like” vesicular effect of varatridine; the ensuing 3H-noradrenaline efflux out of the neurone was mediated by the neuronal amine carrier. 5) After pretreatment with reserpine (to inhibit vesicular uptake) and pargyline (to inhibit monoamine oxidase), veratridine (100 μmol/l) elicited a phasic, peak-like increase in the efflux of tritium (about 90% of which was unchanged 3H-noradrenaline). This response to veratridine was abolished by TTX (1 μmol/l) and unaffected by the absence of external Ca2+; moreover, it was greatly reduced by either cocaine (10 μmol/l) or desipramine (1 μmol/l) and, hence brought about by carrier-mediated outward transport across the axonal membrane. 6) It is concluded that, in addition to its well-known action on the fast sodium channel, veratridine somehow increases the leakage of noradrenaline from storage vesicles; this “reserpine-like” effect of veratridine is resistant to TTX and therefore not a consequence of the drug-induced changes in the sodium permeability of the axolemma.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00502621
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